Your POV

“Jangmi, why are you still on your computer. It’s 11 already.”

“Well Nana unnie, I’m busy with my report paper.”

“Report paper? School hasn’t started yet.”

“Better prepare than-”

“Don’t fool yourself Jangmi. You’re worried aren’t you? You’re always trying to keep yourself busy whenever you’re stressed.” Sica unnie is right. I do have that habit.

“Worried? Oh, are you worried about what happened earlier?”

“…”

“Come on, I’m your unnie. You can share it with me, with Sica unnie too.”

“Ok, here it is. I told Myungsoo that I just happened to look alike to some noona he knew. But he said nothing. NOTHING. I know he acted like a cold, silent one, but not to me. He would have said something, ask something. But nothing. That’s definitely something. Unnie, what if he hadn’t believed me? What if he figured it out?” I gasp. “What if he told them?”

“So? You just tell them the truth. They’re your family. They love you.”

“But how would you feel if someone you adore lied to you? They would be furious. Besides, I don’t think they will believe me. They’ve lived non-magic lives. They can’t possibly believe that their childhood friend figure, a doll, came to life.”

“Oh, you’re overthinking this.” Unnie just doesn’t get it does she? She’s just too simple.

“She’s right Nana-ah. I don’t think they’ll believe that either.” Thanks Sica unnie. Exactly. “But you know what Jangmi? At least they know the truth. Don’t you think they deserve that?”

“She’s right Jangmi.” Don’t I know that? “Besides, he’s already seen you. Your relationship with them is already ruined and they will be suspicious of you anyway, if he tells them. Tell them the truth or not, you can’t ignore it.”

“…Thanks unnie. That’s actually… very useful.”

Come on Rose Charles. You’re Rose Charles for God sake. You can’t let anything throw you off track like this. Time to fix all of this and put them back on track.

Besides, they’re INFINITE. They wouldn’t take this too hard would they?

I take out my phone. Are they even awake at this hour? Whatever, they’ll read it in the morning anyway.

----------

I walk to middle of their living room. I know, a normal person wouldn’t choose to reveal something like this in their house. Not me. I’m confident, and I must show it, enough to say this right in their home.

No back down now. This is something I must do.

“Why is the serious face Jangmi?”

“Yeah, it’s just a tour around our house. Why look tense?”

So I guess Myungsoo hasn’t told them yet. Speaking of him, he looks at me expressionlessly. But his eyes show expectancy. I think he knows what I’m up to.

I take a deep breath and lower my head. I remove the sunglasses to reveal my blue eyes (taking off contacts will be more… yeah). As slowly as possible, I remove my wig.

I can hear a gasp. This is it.

“This… This is my true look.” I gather all of my confidence. “I’m… My REAL name is not Kim Jangmi. It’s… Rose Charles.” I take a good look at them again. They all look shocked, even Myungsoo. He clearly didn’t expect this, although he has seen this look. “Yes guys, I’m your noona.”

“H- H- How?” Woohyun manages to say this.

“Magic. My unborn sister pleaded God, and they turned me human. Well, almost human. That was really why I disappeared from the mansion. I couldn’t have stayed, nobody would have believed me, or at least wanted to have anything to do with… “Dark magic”. I’ve been living with Sonyeosidae unniedeul ever since.”

…

They say nothing. Of course. This must be unacceptable for them. They must be stunned. I can under-

“YES!!!” Huh? “My dream came true!!!” I can only feel a “Thud” before being snuggled by Sungjong and Woohyun. Then I feel more weigh on me, and no light surrounding me. Of course, this means more people are hugging me.

“Oh, ok. That’s enough.” I try to get out of the “group hug”. Wait, so almost everyone hugs me? Even Myungsoo? Well, that explains the heavy weigh I felt.

“Aren’t you like… mad? I mean, because of me you… you were forced to do things you like.”

“No, we’re really glad you’re alive. I mean, it would be scary, at least creepy when your doll comes alive… But it’s you, so it’s fine. I always thought of you as an actual, living friend. I even wished hard that you were. And now having it come true, it feels great.” Aw~ That’s so sweet Dongwoo.

“Hey, why are you hugging him noona? I was going to say that too~” Sunggyu whines.

“Aw~ Come here my little grumpy man.”

“So noona.” Hoya starts. “No more secret?”

“…No more secret.” I smile.

This went so much better than I feared. I can’t believe my luck. I have such lovely, accepting dongsaengdeul.

Myungsoo’s POV

“Look how happy noona is. I’m glad we dealt with our emotions before having this talk. I can’t imagine how sad noona would have been if we had reacted differently, like how we did.”

I agree, Dongwoo hyung. The truth is, I told them the moment I went home. They actually reacted violently. Me too. Joy, sadness, anger, disappointment, surprise all mixed in.

But finally, the hyungdeul calmed us down and we had a talk. We then agreed that Jangmi could have been just a lookalike of noona. And even if that was noona, it was a miracle and we should celebrate that. Noona must have her reason not telling.

When Sunggyu hyung received her message telling she would come over, we had an idea what she wanted. At first, we wanted to just tell her and reassure her. But the eternal prankster Sungyeol suggested this little act. Nothing negative, we just want to for what she did. Besides, he reasoned that her happiness would be much bigger after a bad situation. For once, it actually made sense.

“So you’d been wearing a wig and contacts all that time?”

“Yeah. Unnideul said it would help me blend in.”

“But wait. You said when you were turned human, you turned into a small girl. How could you wear contact?”

“…Yeah, I never thought of that. Come to think of it, unniedeul aren’t much older than me. How can they stay with me, alone, in a house? They shouldn’t have worked on an “angel” mission at that age…”

Their conversation makes me think too. Yeah, weird… I can’t understand the logic of that.

“Yah guys, appa is video calling us. Come on.”

“But how about Rose noona?”

“I can stay in somewhere else. Don’t worry.”

“No. Appa loves you a lot too. He will accept this. Don’t worry, come sit here.” Sunggyu hyung coaxes her into joining us. She seems reluctant, but does it anyway. I think she wants to tell the truth to appa herself.

“Maybe you’re right. They probably will react positively like you guys.” Wait. Like how we did the first time? Oh uh.

The screen turns on, showing appa and Haneul eomma’s face. They are waving, but stop abruptly.

“Is… Is that-” Appa squints his eyes.

“Yes… appa.” She calls him appa. “I’m Rose, Rose Charles.”

Your POV

“It’s ok. I understand. It’s a good thing too. I’d love to have a daughter myself.” They reassure me. They were so understanding, and reacted surprisingly calm, even more surprisingly then INFINITE.

“You are so pretty, just like my noona.” Appa lovingly tells me.

“I know right?” We laugh wholeheartedly with his eager response.

“Oh, you’re talking to our sons?” Wait, that voice.

“Hello eommadeul.” The boys stiffen.

“Hm… Who is that? You’re only in Seoul for a couple of days and you’ve got a girl home? Wow, Seoul girls must be so… easy these days.”

“No eommadeul, it’s…”

“It’s Jangmi unnie.” Haneul umma cuts in. She must think they’re not ready to hear the truth. Besides, they didn’t like me in the first place. And hearing “magic” will freak them out.

“Oh really? No wonder she looks familiar.”

“Oh honey.” The “honey” gives me goose pumps. But still, I continue to smile politely. There’s no way I’m showing them I’m affected by their words. “You certainly look… different. Very… artificial.” Fake you mean? This is my real look. Except the hair actually. Returning to blonde from brunet is hard. Even when unnie did a lot to my hair, it wasn’t as bright as my original color. I do regret dying it. In the end, they bleached my hair so it looks bright. I hope I’ll grow hair that is in platinum again.

“Thank you madam. I think this look suits me too. Oh my, you all look younger. I guess nature really favors you.” Ha! They obviously had something done. No makeup can make them look this young. And no healthy process can make them look so young after a week.

Look like I hit a spot. Their faces darken.

“Anyway, boys, are you sure you want to stay in Seoul to study? ETS is just ETS, no matter where it is. Its education system is already the best in the world. Besides, Seoul people are…” She glances at me. “Complicated.”

So they told their eomeoni they went here just to study? Make sense.

“Actually… eommadeul. We…”

“It’s alright son.”

“No appa. We have to tell them. Keeping a lie is exhausting. We must bravely face the truth like noona.” Good thing their face don’t react with the word “noona”. I don’t think they notice.

“Eommadeul, we… We came here to be trainees at SM.” Seonggyu finally finishes. The trio look shocked. No, more than that. They look like kids who hear their parents are not really their parents. They looked… betrayed.

“Is this Dongwoo’s idea? I know that child was always up to no good.”

“What!? You blame Dongwoo!? What about Sungyeol? He’s such a little brat as a kid.”

“You said what? Why don’t you two ask Sunggyu? He’s the leader. Sure he was why they listened.”

“NO!” INFINITE yells at the same time. “We chose this on our own. This is our dream, our real dream.”

“Yeah mom. I’ve never interested in business, or even how much money Woollim makes… Sorry appa.”

“No matter. I understand. I won’t force you to do what you don’t want.”

The trio look speechless. But then, they turn their gazes towards me.

“Is this her doing?” Great, they blame me. Actually, they’re right. I did suggest, and help them go to the right path. “She’s such a vixen!”

“A fox.”

“A-”

“ENOUGH!” Appa shouts. And he turns to me. “I’m sorry dear. They didn’t mean it. They were just angry.” I nod, suggesting I understand.” And don’t worry all of you. I will talk to your eommadeul.”

“Thanks appa.” We all say back at the same time.

Jeongyeop’s POV

“Honey, how could you agree to that? They obviously didn’t think straight. The vixen must have bewitched them!” Honestly, this is giving me a headache.

“Unniedeul, relax. Maybe you’re just in rage, so you think badly of her. She’s a sweet kid. Besides, maybe-”

“Shut up Haneul. You’re just a vixen like her too. You don’t have any right in this house!” That’s it.

“Who says she doesn’t.” I finally say. “And I agree with her. You are not thinking properly. Please go to your chambers. We will talk in the morning. PLEASE.” Not wanting to hear another, I walk out with Haneul. Why do I have to deal with this? I wish my own parents weren’t such people back in the day. I would have met Haneul sooner, and wouldn’t have had to marry them.

“Do you want some hot tea honey? That always calms you down.”

“No thanks. I’m just a bit angry. But I’m happy. My boys finally know how to stand up for themselves, what I didn’t learn until I’ve met you.”

“Yeah, I’m proud too. More with Rose, she finally faced the truth. Just hope all will work well for them. This is as far as I could foresee. The future is unclear to me.”

“Don’t worry.” I assure her. “All well that ends well.”